Intercontinental Exchange and Trade[XYZ] announced a definitive agreement on 29 October to develop a US retail perpetuals market on Hyperliquid. ICE will exclusively operate Trade[XYZ]’s regulated markets and is taking a minority stake. The proposed market and clearing structure require regulatory approvals, including those needed for leveraged trading.[1]
Trade[XYZ] already offers eligible non-US users perpetual contracts referencing equities, indices, commodities and currencies. These contracts have no expiry date.[1]
ICE intends the business to operate separately from its institutional futures and clearing franchise. Identity-checked customers would gain access through futures commission merchants that become platform members. Distribution through the ICE–OKX joint venture also depends on that venture’s own pending FCM and broker-dealer approvals.[1]
The intermediary handles more than distribution
The National Futures Association defines an FCM as a firm that accepts or solicits orders for products including futures and accepts customer money or assets to support them. Registered FCMs must be NFA members. The role therefore includes the financial relationship behind an order, as well as its transmission to a market.[2]
The protocol leaves important choices to the market operator
Hyperliquid’s existing HIP-3 framework explains why the underlying technology and the operator’s product design are separate layers. A market deployer defines the contract and its price oracle, the feed used to establish a reference value. It also sets oracle prices and leverage limits and can settle a market when necessary. The protocol supplies order books and margining infrastructure.[3]
The published framework permits a deployer to halt trading, cancel outstanding orders and settle positions at the prevailing mark price. It also assigns each deployed market system its own margining, order books and settings. Those details make the eventual contract specification and market rulebook consequential: using the same underlying network does not, by itself, produce identical trading or risk arrangements.[3]
These are existing protocol capabilities, not final terms for the planned US venue. The announcement provides no launch date, product-level margin schedule or membership tariff. Brokers cannot yet treat the proposed distribution route as an available US service.[1]
Sources & further reading
- Intercontinental Exchange and Trade[XYZ] to Bring Hyperliquid-Based Perpetual Markets Onshore Intercontinental Exchange · 29 Oct 2026 · Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- Futures Commission Merchant registration: role and membership requirements National Futures Association · Accessed 30 Oct 2026
- HIP-3: builder-deployed perpetuals and market-operator responsibilities Hyperliquid documentation · Accessed 30 Oct 2026